HISTORY OF ANCIENT NATIONS. 



was a soldier and a conqueror. He left an empire 

 peaceful, respected, and strong; and, what was of 

 as much importance, he selected from among his 

 sons a successor who was able to improve all these 

 advantages. Under Solomon, the Hebrew govern- 

 ment being able to protect its subjects in other 

 countries, the people and their king began to 

 employ themselves in commerce. Their trade 

 was at first ingrafted on that of the Phoenicians of 

 Tyre. A greater contrast cannot be imagined 

 than between the troubles of the time of the 

 Judges (only 100 years before), and the peace, 

 security, and enjoyment of this reign. 



After the death of Solomon, the country fell 

 into the same divisions which had weakened it 

 in the time of the Judges. Each of the districts 

 of North and South Israel was under a separate 

 king, and the people were exposed both to the 

 attacks of their enemies and to quarrels with each 

 other. Their history is a succession of agitating 

 conflicts for independence, and of unexpected and 

 remarkable deliverances, of a similar nature to 

 those of the earlier period, and continuing for 

 about the same length of time (380 years) ; but 

 they are marked by fewer of those traits of heroic 

 devotion which distinguished the epoch of the 

 Judges. The backslidings, errors, and misgovern- 

 ment of their kings are the chief and painful 

 subject which is presented to us ; and though 

 these are relieved at times by the appearance 

 of such monarchs as Josiah, Jehoshaphat, and 

 Hezekiah, yet the whole history of this period is 

 overcast with the gloominess of progressive de- 

 cline. By far the most delightful parts of it are 

 those which relate to the lives of the prophets, 

 who were raised up at intervals to warn the 

 nation and its rulers of the fate which they in- 

 curred by forsaking the religion of their fathers. 

 These inspired men sometimes sprang up from 

 among the humblest classes of the community : 

 one (Isaiah) is, however, said to have been of royal 

 lineage ; but the works of all are marked with 

 the same sacredness, and force of authoritative 

 rebuke. 



Of the two kingdoms into which Palestine had 

 divided itself after the death of Solomon (975 

 M.C.), the northern, called the Kingdom of Israel, 

 was conquered by the Assyrians of Nineveh 

 (722 B.C.), who earned off many thousands of the 

 people into captivity. What became of the ten 

 tribes which were carried away captive by the 

 Assyrians, is a question regarding which there 

 has been much discussion. According to Scrip- 

 ture, they were first planted by Shalmaneser as 

 colonists in certain cities of Media, which terri- 

 tory was then subject to Assyria ; and recent 

 investigations have proved the precise district to 

 have been the neighbourhood of the Kezil-Ozan, 

 a river in the north of modern Persia, near the 

 Caspian Sea. Of the fact of the distribution of 

 the ten tribes throughout Media, there is no 

 doubt ; but as Media not long after revolted from 

 the Assyrians, the subsequent fate of these Jewish 

 captives cannot be traced. The southern king- 

 dom, called the Kingdom of Judah, retained its 

 independence till 588 B.C. when it was invaded 

 and subdued by Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon, 

 who destroyed Jerusalem, and carried away a 

 great number of the principal Jews into captivity 

 at Babylon. On the subversion of the Baby- 

 lonian dominion by Cyrus, seventy years after- 



wards, the captives, to the number of 42,360, were 

 permitted to return to their own land, and rebuild 

 Jerusalem. At this period, the whole of Palestine- 

 merged in the growing Persian empire. 



Assyrians and Babylonians. 



Assyria occupied the northern portion of the 

 Mesopotamian plain, lying between and on the 

 Euphrates, Tigris, and Kabour. It was bounded 

 on the north by the Mons Niphates in Armenia^ 

 on the south by Susiana and Babylonia, on the 

 east by the Zagrbs Mountains, and on the west 

 by the watershed of the Euphrates. At a time 

 far beyond the reach of history, there lived there 

 a Semitic people under a well-defined organised! 

 government. The origin of Assyria, according to 

 Genesis x. 10, n, is simply that out of the land of 

 Shinar, the kingdom of Nimrod, the son of Cush^ 

 who was the son of Ham, ' went forth Asshur, and 

 builded Nineveh.' Be this as it may, it is almost 

 certain that the Assyrians did originally come 

 from the south, and had probably inhabited the 

 flat alluvial plains at the mouths of the Tigris. 

 Their architecture is founded on a style such as. 

 would originate in a region devoid of stones- 

 for building. Indeed, even after emigrating 

 to their new quarters, where stone quarries- 

 were numerous enough, they persisted in re- 

 taining brick as their favourite building material. 

 This migration northward of the people who- 

 founded the Assyrian empire, probably occurred 

 anterior to the close of the old Chaldaean em- 

 pire that is, before the sixteenth century B.C. 

 A broken tablet with inscriptions, giving a syn- 

 chronous history of Babylonia and Assyria, pre- 

 serves the names of the three earliest known* 

 Assyrian kings, and fixes the date of their reigns- 

 at 1650-1550 B.C. by connecting them with the 

 time of Purna-puriyas, the early Chaldasan king~ 

 It must be noted, however, that the name of the- 

 first of these Assyrian kings Asshur-bel-nisus 

 stands half-way down the column of this broker* 

 tablet. There may have been ten or twelve kings 

 before him, which would put back the date of the 

 Assyrian empire to, say, 1770 B.C. The northern, 

 migration of the founders of this empire was prob- 

 ably due to the spirit of enterprise that at that 

 time seemed to have leavened the Semitic peoples- 

 of Southern Mesopotamia, who wandered much 

 further even to push their fortunes. Says Mr 

 Rawlinson in his Five Ancient Monarchies: 

 ' Terah conducted one body from Ur to Harran ~ T 

 another removed itself from the shores of the 

 Persian Gulf to those of the Mediterranean ; while 

 probably a third, larger than either of these two,, 

 ascended the course of the Tigris, occupied 

 Adiabene with the adjacent regions, and giving. 

 its own tribal name of Asshur to its chief city and 

 territory, became known to its neighbours, first as 

 a district, then as an independent power and 

 people.' 



From bricks of Babylonian type found at Killeh- 

 sherghat, older than pure Assyrian remains, bear- 

 ing the names and titles of Babylonian rulers, it 

 seems probable that Assyria was at first governed 

 by satraps from the parent country. When, how- 

 ever, we come to the time of the three earliest 

 kings mentioned in the mutilated synchronistic 

 tablet already referred to, it is clear the protec- 

 torate had been discarded. The first two king* 

 whose names are mentioned Asshur-bel-nisus. 



